Avatar: Better World
by TurboTony00
Summary: Chapter 5 is Up! The life of the Gaang after the comet. The world's anything but perfect, and our hero begins to question everything he's thought. Rated T for violence and blood, and some thematic elements. Review!
1. Bad Start

**Avatar: Better World**

**The New World Chronicles**

**Chapter 1**

**"Bad Start"  
**

_Thump! Thump! Thump!_

The sound echoed through the corridor as Aang's footsteps hit the floor with great audibility.

_Thump! Thump! Thump!_

Aang turned at a corner and raced out until he reached the light.

He sighed. "Where is he?" He looked around: tall trees; long, stretching plains; water running down a calm stream; blood stained on the grass in the pathway in front of him. He gulped. He ran more, following the path of the blood. When he reached a point, the blood had gotten bigger and bigger. He looked at the source: hunched over on a withered fountain, Zuko. "Zuko!!"

He ran over to him, full speed. He picked up his sagging head, his eyes showing, and small driblets of the blood dropping from them. He held his side, where a tear shown, a slit cut into it, and said, "Aang…"

"It's okay, Zuko," reassured Aang, hanging his bleeding arm over his shoulder and dragging him along. "I'm gonna get you out of here, I promise!"

"No, n-not that," he, struggling, pointed to the overhead, as he grabbed his wound in agony. A man with a bandage rapped around the whole bottom part of his face, leaving only dark gold eyes visible. He had red headband that covered his forehead, and long black bangs hung down like vines in the jungle of the rainforest. He had blood on his hand, which was covered with a red elbow-high fingerless glove.

The man hade been chasing them trough their whole time here on the island of Haroon in the east Fire Nation. They were here on a peace mission, but were interrupted by this man. He appeared to be a master of both shuriken and Firebending, as he had been firing flaming metal knifes at them, one of which had sliced Zuko's side, and others that had hit him in several other places. Aang had been hit in the arm, tearing a bleeding cut into his left arm.

The masked man chuckled under his mask, before he shouted, "You can't run anymore; now is where you _die_!!" He shot a dozen flaming knifes at them, Aang creating an air wall that deflected most of them. The others had pierced and skimmed his arms, cutting several cuts on him and tears in his shirt.

Aang bended a pillar in order to shoot him and Zuko up and into the air on. The masked man shot more flaming darts at them, barely missing them as Aang narrowly jumped out of the way.

I've gotta get Zuko out of here, Aang thought, looking around for a place to put the young Fire Lord. He saw a place, a burnt down building in the corner. He had to get him there. He fired two huge rocks at the man, before jumping off and creating a rolling rock to move him and Zuko. He was starting to put a strain on him, and he didn't think he could hold onto him anymore. But he had to keep moving. He could hear the laughs and shouts of the man hopping around behind them. He pressed forward, and in a little while, he had reached 25 feet in front of the house. Aiming right, he hopped off the rock, and landed through a hole in the roof. He placed Zuko on a pile of soft ground, and turned around to see the masked man.

"Now I've got you, Avatar!" he shouted, pulling out a sharp knife and setting it on fire.

"In your dreams!!" shouted Aang as he bolted in the air with fireballs blazing around his hands like a tail. He punched a flaming hand into the masked man's gut, knocking him to the ground with a stream of fire and steam extending from his abdomen.

Smashing into the ground, the man twitched as Aang dropped to hang onto the branch of a tall tree. His heart raced like a stampede of animals, and sweat pored from his face. He breathed heavily, teeth grinding. He didn't know what to do; the man barely moved. Did he just kill him? He didn't know. His stomach twisted like a snake, and his eyes were as wide as the ocean.

Then, in an incandescent and raucously fashion, he burst from the ground with a wave of fire behind him as powerful as a jet engine. His eyes burned with intensity, and he looked as if he was a fierce animal ready to kill. He pounced on Aang, smashing through the trees, eyes closed, fists clenched, teeth gritted together. As they smashed through the 10th tree, Aang, cuts and blood all over his cheeks in deep slashes, socked the man in the chest with an air-blast.

He rocketed back, as Aang continued moving back, spine facing the towering oaks. Turning himself around so his body was facing the tree that was now in front of him, he positioned himself so his head was like the cone of a rocket, and he smashed into the tree, shattering it into millions of little pieces. He pounced into the ground, creating a crater in the ground that impelled things miles around him.

The man stood, shaking and bleeding from cut forehead to bruised feet, and began to cry tears of anger, rapping his hands in fists like if the air in between them were a person's neck being strangled. His heart pounded violently, and his breaths became colder and more deadly with every move of his lungs. He was ready to kill.

Aang was looking at him as he jumped in the air, forming an earth rover made of rocks, and thundered off. Aang wasn't ready to kill, he wasn't ever ready to kill, it was against his morals, but he was ticked at this masked man. This man had not only beaten Aang to a point where he could taste blood, but he had also almost killed his friend, destroyed this island, and caused Aang to go to an anger level he tried to steer clear of.

Aang thundered through, until he reached the man. He towered off, and jumped to man's perimeter. A half of a millisecond after he had formed a fireball, bending it into the masked man. The man was smashed into the tree behind him. Aang ran at him with the speed of light, and furiously punched him with rock-covered hands. He picked him up and threw him to another tree. Aang's hands lit ablaze as he punched the man in the face, melting the mask off him. His eyes began to burn and light, his Avatar State raging on like a tiger, and he lifted into the air, fire surrounding him. His face looked like a monster's, eyes like fire, mouth filled with flames, and his body engrossed in flames.

The man's face, showing as it was, scars over his mouth and nose black, was a dead color, and his eyes were filled with fear. He had been sent on a mission, to kill the Avatar to bring back the former world. But he didn't expect this; he didn't expect to be about killed by him.

Aang moved forward, closer and closer to the man, and once he got to him, rapped his hands around the man's neck. It singed and it burned, and the man was gasping as Aang's face stood angered. He gripped tighter, but he stopped and dropped the man. He slopped to the ground, ash falling off of him and onto the dirt, a huge pile of it forming around his bare feet.

Aang panted, his shirt torn almost completely off, his bare chest shown cut and bleeding, his pants torn and bloody, and his feet scratched and covered in black ash. The man was cowering, bleeding, gasping for air. And that was when Aang realized what he had done: he had almost killed this man.

Killed.

Aang dropped on his knees, tears forming, dripping down his face like the blood, only stronger and more painful. He looked at the man, and breathed sobbing, "Leave…NOW!!"

The man did so, running off into the forest, panting and bleeding. At the end of the beach, a group of fire soldiers were waiting to take action to help the boys. This would involve taking the man hired to assassinate them to the Boiling Rock for life.

Aang stood up, and ran to Zuko to get him, face gripped. He picked Zuko up and slumped him over his shoulders, ready to jump out.

"Like I promised, Zuko," Aang told him before he jumped. "And I won't go against my word. I never will…"

He jumped with the force of the rock pillar, and ran to the edge of the island's woods, where the beach and soldiers were. He let Zuko on the sand softly and told them, "He needs help. Get him to a medic as fast as you can."

The men shook their heads and picked up Zuko to go and put him on the rover-boat. Aang wiped his bleeding mouth, and grinded his teeth.

This was a bad day, to say the least.


	2. Hunted

Aang stood on the beach, his arm and shoulder patched, several scars and bruises scattered around his body. His bare toes dug into the sand, his eyes squinted, his whole expression unmoving. His hands were rapped in cloth, rolled into fists.

A patter sound came from behind Aang. He instinctively turned around, hands in a battle poise.

"Calm down, Mr. Avatar," cackled Sokka, his hair shaven on it's side, his wolf tail blowing in the breeze. His shirt was green, and was stretched to his knees, but where his hips where it was rapped around them. He was barefoot.

"Hey, Sokka," said Aang, turning around back to face the ocean.

"Aang, I know you've been through a lot lately, what with all the assassination attempts and the revolt in Kamuu, b-"

"Wait, revolt?!?" Aang boomed, echoing around the deserted beach, fox-seagulls spasming away. He pounded the sand with his bandaged hands, then turned his head around slightly, "Sokka, is this the world we wanted? Is this a better world?!!!!?"

"Aang, calm down," he said, grabbing his friend's shoulder.

Aang looked at his friend, an angry look in his grey eyes, and then turned away, not moving his viewpoint from the ocean. "Thanks, Sokka, but you-you should leave. Now."

Sokka looked deeply at the boy, then sighed and began to walk off. But he stopped, just for a moment, in front of the board walk, and said, "Ya know, Aang, I think I liked it better when you didn't take things seriously."

Aang looked at the ocean, the sun ending it's rise over the blue. Aang closed his eyes, his body unmoving. The sand rumbled as he silently raged a bitter and bloody battle within his self.

**Meanwhile, in the the Lower Ring**

The small shop on the Wei Long Boulevard was barely used since the war ended. That is, because it was used to harbor and sell illegal weaponry to mercenaries, assassins, and bounty hunters during the war. With that being over, it had began to be used for meetings of the secret kind.

This particular meeting had been called to discuss a new strategy for an assassination attempt on Avatar Aang.

"You said he never could fail, Myoshi!!" boomed Yino, pounding his hand on the wooden table, his face blackened in the darkness of the unlit room. The man was stressed lately, having been only recently granted the role of leading the "Wind Killers," a secret Fire Nation organization hired to assassinate important figures.

Myoshi, a weak hypochondriac, sweat as he stuttered quietly, "I-I'm sorry, s-sir. From what I heard he could n-n-n-not fail. I-I just, I thought, I-I-I mean, I assumed that he could easily, or, er, at least efficiently, kill the boy. I-I'm so, so sorry, sir. Please forgive me." He felt his head, flipping his hand back and forth, his tattered red robe suffocated him as the room closed in on him.

He owed the Wind money, so he was forced to work with them and do whatever they asked. This included hiring a new assassin to kill the Avatar.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, 'you tried'. Well, let me tall ya somethin', scum; I DON'T CARE!!!!" He gripped the man's face in the dark with his fist. "Okay, I'm gonna give you one-I repeat, _one_- more chance to get this right. If you can't do it, well…" He bended a fist of fire, illuminating the area of the room, and stuck it very close to the already sweating man's face. "…your family won't have to waste money on cremating you. Got it?"

"Oh, don't worry, he won't have to worry about that." A shadowy figure illuminated in the dark, entering the room. "I don't fail."

Yino let go of the man and turned around to face the figure, smiling. "Ah, you must be our man:

Lee Koisho."

Lee laughed evilly, his hands crossed in his arms.

**Back in the Upper Ring...**

Aang stood, his arms outstretched in front of him, in front of the mirror. His head hurt him and was so angry at himself and this world. He looked in the mirror at himself. He gritted his teeth and blew a gust of air at the mirror, cracking it so he couldn't see himself anymore.

He grabbed his head and turned around, eyes closed. Just then, he heard a loud explosion. He ran out the door to see that 3 cans of exploding jelly had been destroyed, creating the explosion.

He rotated his head around to find the person or thing who did this. It didn't take long. After all, the source was screaming "Hey kid!" from the top of one of the ceilings.

Aang turned. The man laughed. "Name's Lee! And I'm here to kill ya!" He threw 5 throwing knifes at Aang, barely missing him as he jumped, the knives glazing his shirt and scuffing up his face.

Sliding on the ground at least ten feet back, the knives clanking to the ground. Every citizen ran out of the whole block, screaming and panicking. Aang heard Momo chirp behind him. "Momo, get outta here!" Momo chirped, flying up and out into the air.

"Guess it's just you and me, Avatar," remarked Lee, pulling out a second knife and keeping it in the space between his first finger.

"I guess it is…"

Lee charged after Aang, shouting, throwing knives at the bald-headed boy. Aang jumped up and hopped around the walls. He flipped up and flopped to the roof. "Why are you doing this?!"

Lee snickered, playing with the knife he was holding between the gaps in his fingers. "The same reason the other five guys were; you're the Avatar, and if you die, the war comes back to screw up the world!"

Aang growled. _Sick_, he thought. Lee tossed the knife he was playing with right into Aang's shoulder. Aang shouted in pain, pulling out the bleeding knife from the black wounded. Tears of pain emerged from his eyes. He gitted his teeth and jumped into the air.

Lee grabbed a knife from his pocket and tried to stab Aang with it. But Aang burnt it to liquid and blew him into the side of the wall with a slice of air.

Aang slid back, a tiny streak of blood straying from his wound. He earthbended a rock pillar to cover Lee and keep him captured. Lee grinned.

"Clever, kid," remarked the bounty hunter, grinning. "This could take me a while to get out of." He struggled around in the rock for a few seconds, before grunted quietly. He blew a silent but high whistle that echoed throughout the block.

A rumbling boomed through the alleyway as a bump followed along the floor. An explosion of dust and bricks revealed a shrieking giant bat-mole, who smashed back and destroyed the pillar covering Lee. He stepped out and caught the bat-mole on his arm, smirking, "Good boy."

He then let the bat-mole fly off and struck a knife at the wall, running it along to gather up dust. "Ya know, I always read that Air Nomads lived a nice, peaceful life, filled with prosperity and lightheartedness." He then laughed. "Guess it doesn't apply to you!!"

Aang snarled, as he kept a defense pose, ready for whatever kind of attack the bounty hunter was going to use.

Lee chuckled a little. "You know I've read about the genocide on your people. Such a shame. I mean, they were such a great race. Quite fun I hear. Especially your master; what was his name? Oh yeah…" He smirked and looked Aang in the eye, a mere foot away from him. "…Gyatso."

Aang growled, a drop of blood dripping from his arm. Lee than, quickly, attempted to stab Aang in his side, but he grabbed it, and struggled to keep it away. It ended with the knife scatting to the ground with a clank. Lee stepped back, smiling.

"Hey, I got an idea," He swung himself onto the steps that acted as a fire escape to the roof of the house, "Let's take this to your native element; the AIR!" He hopped onto the roof and Aang gushed his way up to follow him.

On the roof, Lee jumped from top to top, Aang following him with powerful gushes of air. On one rooftop, Lee pulled stopped and pulled out a staff-whip, which he used to strike at Aang. He dodged several of the stroking whips, but missed one and then another, leaving two long lashes on his back, exposed from his torn shirt. As Lee got agitated, his whips became more and more powerful, and Aang dodged about everyone. Lee lost it, and in a batter of anger, he charged at Aang and pulled him off the roof. Falling to the ground, Aang whipped an air ball to cushion his fall and Lee caught onto a step latter.

Hopping off, Lee ran to Aang, whip in hand, and the two began struggling, Aang gushing air in front of him to keep the whip off of him. Lee snarled, face red.

"Why won't you DIE!?" he roared, slamming him into a wall and then grabbing his head. He pounded it into the wall three time, blood spouting from it gushingly. Aang pulled back, and blasted Lee into the other wall with an air gush. Through the curdling pain, he continued to gush more air on him, throwing him through the wall and into the building.

Aang walked over to the man's unconscious body. He panted violently, and looked at him through scared eyes. He breathed a sigh of relief. And then the man shot up and shouted.

Aang shouted back, his eyes glowing white and his tattoos the same. He struck him in the head with an air blast, and he flung back, blood spewing as he was shot miles and miles back and out of sight.

Aang sighed out of the Avatar State, and turned around, jumping off the roof. As he walked, Katara and Toph ran to him.

"Aang!!" Katara shouted, running to him and embracing him in her arms. She kissed him and hugged him again. "You look horrible."

Aang looked at Katara as she began to fade. Everything began to get blurry. "Aang?" Katara asked, as Aang's vision faded, and he fell into her arms unconscious.

**Wei Long Blvd. Shop, a few minutes later**

Two men dragged Lee's bloody and unconscious body into the shop, and through him onto the table as the glass rattled. He groaned and looked up.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk," Yino said, shadowy as he sat back in his chair. "I thought you couldn't fail. Hmm…"

"Please, no, understand!" panted Lee. "The kid, he-he was too much! He was so strong…so strong; I-I've never felt such raw power ever in my 31 years! It not possible to kill him…you have to understand!!"

"Silence!!" boomed Yino, slamming his palm onto the table. "Men, take him to the bay. Make sure he doesn't come back…"

"No, no, please!!" shouted Lee as the men picked him up and dragged him out the door. "Please!! No!!! Noooooo!!!"

The door shut. Yino sighed. "So, I guess this boy truly is a realized Avatar. I'll have to take stronger precautions if I ever hope to bring back the war and kill…the Last Airbender."


	3. Settling Scores

A/N: Here's chapter 3. Starting from this chapter, I'm having "The888thAvatar-WHSL" advise me on how to fix it, so he's technically now my new editor. I hope you like it. TM & Copyright Nickelodeon/Viacom, and Mike & Bryan.

**Avatar: Better World**

**The New World Chronicles**

**Chapter 3**

**Settling Scores**

**Team Avatar's House, Ba Sing Se**

Aang's vision began to be clearer as he stood himself up from his bed. Still a tad blurry, he looked at his hand, and saw it covered in a bandage wrap, a metal stick underneath to hold his wrist in place. He looked at his other hand, and followed it to see that a large cup was held with cloth on his shoulder, and there was more padding over it.

He looked at his feet, and saw gashing holes and much cloth rapped around them. On his leg was a very large stick held to his right leg with a few sheets of cloth. The stick led to about his higher ribcage. He felt a sharp pain in his head, and grabbed it, feeling a very large pad held on by some undercloth.

He picked himself up, and limped out the door, holding the stick held to his leg. Walking down the hall, he entered the living room, where Katara, Toph, Sokka, and Zuko waited around. They all looked to him.

"Aang?!" Katara ran over to him, as the others followed. "You can't be up right now. You have so many injuries, you can surprisingly even-"

"Katara, I'm_ fine_," Aang said, trying to pass by her.

"You're lying, Twinkle Toes," said Toph, who crossed her arms as she didn't look up, hanging by the wall.

"I _need_ to know who hired these p-_ugh_!" Aang grabbed his arm, which began leaking blood.

"Ew!" exclaimed Sokka, freaking out, and striking a "get that thing away from me" pose, cocking his foot up and his hand in front, head turned slightly.

"Calm down," Zuko commented, limping slightly as he walked over. Several visible wounds could be seen, as he had a few patches around his face and bandage wrapped around his wrist, though it was not very visible behind his long sleeve. In fact, most of his wounds were hidden behind his long tea worker robes. He kneeled down slightly to examine the wound. "His wound hasn't completely sealed up yet. We need to tighten the bandage more. Katara."

"I'm on it," Katara said, running over to the kitchen to grab more cloth and padding.

"No, no, _stop_!" Aang shouted, pulling away from Zuko and closing his eyes, grinding his teeth. "I don't need you guys to waste your time trying to help me! It's my problem! You guys should be out there, helping people, making this a better world!!"

There was a long, awkward silence. Then Toph stepped right to Aang's face.

"Listen, Twinkle Toes; this isn't all about you. I know you've been through a lot, and I know you've got a lot of pressure, having to make this screwed world better, but you gotta understand," she started to stand up on her feet, and got in his face, shouting, "It is NOT ALL ABOUT YOU!!!" The ground slightly shook.

Aang sighed, not leaving his view of her. Katara walked over and started bandaging his arm tighter. Aang turned his head away. "I'm going to my room…" He limped down the hallway.

The others walked back to where they were, and it got quiet again. Sokka walked over to Toph, and turned his head down to her.

"Whoa," he commented. "You have quite a voice."

"Eh, his_ testosterone spill _was just ticking me off," she said, shrugging.

"He-he," he giggled back.

**Ba Sing Se Outer Wall, same time**

As Yino stood on top of the massive wall, still being constructed, his hooded robes flapping the gust of the summer wind, one of his men walked over to him. The man bowed to Yino.

"Sir," he said, his almost toothless mouth causing spittle to fly from his lips, "there's a cargo cart waiting to take you to the Avatar's home. According to our spies, he's practically dead already. You won't need much to fight h-"

Yino then quickly tossed the man over the wall, causing him to fall down, crushing the cargo cart waiting for Yino. The man's bones were broken, and blood leaked from his back and from his mouth. He groaned.

"I _never _need much to fight an opponent," he said calmly, golden eyes glowing with intensity, "and let those fatal wounds let you learn. I am doing this because I _need _to," He continued as another man came timidly up to foresee his journey, "because I choose only incompetence to wield in my so called empire. And if I don't do this, _he _will kill me."

"Y-you ready, s-sir?" the new man said, shakingly bowing to Yino. His black hair twitched, and his cheeks glowed red with fear.

Yino stared out at the city, and while his face was as still as a rock, his insides were twirling up with fear; not for the Avatar, but for the man who he unfortunately worked for; for the face of the man who once ruled the island country he was imprisoned at; for Ozai. While still being imprisoned, Ozai still secretly ran an organization, several in fact, which could wipe out any army of any size. They still laid loyal to him, not for his power, but for his blood; his _royal _blood. And while Ozai was still incapacitated, his organizations weren't, and they alone could kill him.

Yino took a large breath. After letting it out, he closed his eyes, and then fiercely opened them with a sharp, "Yes." His hands grew fire around them and his face sweat with intensity. He and the other man walked down the stone steps, and walked off.

**Aang's Room, Team Avatar's Hut, 10 Minutes later**

Aang laid on his large bed, his wounds covered more deeply, and his bandage stick holding his one non-outstretched arm and leg together, flat against his bare side. His mind raced and pulsated, and he felt sweat beat down his neck. He sensed something was wrong; he felt it, deep in his spirit, deep in his heart, he felt a powerful presence. He felt....fire.

A giant blast of fire, so powerful he could feel it from 10 feet away, shot through the wall beside him, leaving a large bat of steam to emulate and a large, crackled hole in the wall to appear. Aang pushed himself up, and rolled onto the floor. Yino walked through the gap, his hood covering his face, only his chapped lips appearing. He turned toward Aang who, pain aching through his wounds, rolled upwards to see the dark man.

The steam settled, and Aang squinted to see the man's face. Silence was crisp, the air rough with tension. Aang broke the silence, "Who are you?"

Yino lowered his hood, revealing a very hollow and dull face. His pale skin was boney, his eyes wrinkled with bags, grey, rough. His eyes, glistening a hazel shade of golden blue, showed experience, a dark and twisted past; it showed the screams of those he had met, of his own, of his depressing past. Surprisingly, however, Aang saw fear in his eyes as well, an unsettled fear, as if someone - or some_thing_ - was watching the Firebender. Finally, the man spoke.

"Avatar Aang, I presume. I'll make the introductions quick; I am Yino. Your previous assassins have failed, and so it is _I _who shall end your life. Prepare to die, Avatar." He then breathed in, and shot out a huge blast of immense fire at Aang. Aang immediately sucked in a large consumption of air, exhaling it, and causing a blast of air to exit from his mouth, blocking the blast, yet sending him flying.

"How polite…" Aang muttered, sliding off the floor-wall crease, tugging at the bandage tying his straightener to his left side. He tore it off, and descended back into the air, gripping on to it. In the air, he whipped an immense blast from it, sending the bed flying straight into Yino. The flags on that wall dropped down with clanks.

**Outside**

Toph needed some air, the cramped space that was the house was too much to stand for an Earthbender. Well, at least for Toph. So she sat outside on the steps. Suddenly, she felt a clunk beside her. Sokka had sat down beside her, his hair amuck and bruises on his face. A sullen expression covered his face. She felt he was verklempt, at the least.

"Alright, I'll budge; what's wrong today?" she spat out finally, sarcastically as usual.

"What _isn't_?" he responded, plopping his knuckles beneath his chin. "I mean, it was all dandy earlier, but then I come in here to check on Aang. First, I smash _onto a vase__._"

"Don't you mean _into_?"

"Nope; _onto._ Then, I, hungry like the wolf-bat, decide to grab some eats at a tavern, but before I can even get outside, I get mauled by Momo, rampaging, followed by two cats, an armadillo-hedgehog, and five baby Komodo-Frogs! I give up, man, give _up!_"

Toph tossed her fist into Sokka's gut, him groaning. "Ow!" he exclaimed.

"Man up, Sokka. I mean, even all of that isn't as _nearly _bad as Aang's injuries. Plus, all of that is kinda wimpy. So, if you ask me, you gotta grow-"

Just then, they heard a thunderous blast, followed by a bang and several clanks. They were all coming from inside.

Sokka jumped, grabbing onto Toph's hand and pulling her up with him. "Aang!" They darted down into the house, racing through Aang's hallway.

**Back in Aang's room**

Yino, hands a blazed, split the bed in half, screaming an enraged scream. He then fired four vicious shots at Aang , the Airbender quickly – clotted with pain – rolling away from each, a stray bandage flying off from his arm. He rolled to a stop in front of the hole Yino had formed beforehand. Yino spun and sliced a Fire Blade straight at Aang, who twirled an Air Shield around himself, sending him flinging outside and into a tree, leaves falling violently.

Aang groaned, head aching, bones bruised. Yino shuffled out of the building and hovered above Aang. Aang flinched to strike a move, but Yino's flawless reflexes caused him to grab his arm and start to Firebend. But just then, a stray rock struck him straight in the back. He turned around to see Toph, standing with her fist aimed at him, dust settling around her. "Get away from Aang."

Sokka charged at Yino, his sword at hand, and struck at him. Yino used a quick Fire-blade under his forearm to block it. Sokka still kept his stance, and slid behind him and in front of Aang. Toph struck down on the earth powerfully, surging a large rumble to knock Yino off of his footing. Toph as well swung to Aang's side, both helping him up. Yino's hazel eyes seemed to glow as he adjusted himself. His swung his leg quickly and powerfully, creating a surge of Fire that he used to huddle himself up. He darted out to the city street, turning to look at them and smile.

Aang struggled out of Toph and Sokka's grasp, limping his way a few steps. "Aang, what are you doing?!" Sokka shouted at him, darting to get to him, Toph closely following.

"This ends now," Aand said, faded with breath and tearing off his bandages, revealing crimson colored gashes throughout his body. "Evacuate the citizens from this ring, and get yourselves as far from here as possible."

"Twinke Toes, we're not gonna just leave you," Toph explained.

"Just do it, n-"

"YOU'LL DIE!"

"I DON'T CARE!!" Aang exclaimed back, ripping off the final bandage from his head, revealing his arrow, which on the side revealed a gashing wound with a bump in the center. "Now just do it." He straightened up, then jumping with Airbending onto the roof. Sokka and Toph stood there, turning to each other.

Toph looked forward again. "Let's just do it."

Sokka nodded and the two raced out of the hut's alley.

A/N: And there we go; the exciting opening to this two-part chapter! I hope you who read this enjoyed it, and don't forget to review!!


	4. Eruption

**Avatar: Better World**

**The New World Chronicles**

**Chapter 4**

**Eruption**

**Upper Ba Sing Se Ring, on the rooftops**

Aang darted after Yino, full speed; his sores now open to the elements, stinging, bleeding, he jumped strait at Yino, hands lit ablaze, he spun fast, slashing the flames around him as he turned. Yino ducked and dodged, but was still struck by a single strike, burning his shin and leaving it exposed from his pants. Aang spun while in the air, landing back on the ground, crushing the tiles straight off as he slid. He continually fired Air Blasts at the Wind Killer, trying to block with his forearms, though this shield broke, causing him to be flung back with each blow. Aang swiped himself downward to the ground, grinding along the tiles of the roof, his leg extended to quickly jab at Yino's leg. The Wind Killer completely lost balance, and rolled down from the roof, tiles flying everywhere, and crashed onto the ground, destroying a cart.

Aang needed to spin to stop, he was going so fast, and scrambled to slid off the roof and onto the ground. Scarred civilians trembled by them, Aang looking at them with content grey eyes. Toph and Sokka darted up and grabbed them, running with them away, explaining they were taking them to safety. Aang looked back at the scratched Yino, whose face looked even more scarred and his bags looked so grey they could have passed for black. Aang flipped his hands downward, causing rock latches to extend around Yino's wrist, holding him down. Aang looked the man in his shining, depressing eyes.

"Who are you people?" Aang commanded sharply, breathing heavily.

Yino rolled his neck around, eyes closed, for a bit. He opened them, and quietly spoke. "Air boy, kiss my-"

Aang interrupted him, grunting and tossing him and the ground under him rumbling to the side roughly. He blasted himself upward, striking down at the ground around him. Yino and the plate under him jumbled upward and to the side, Aang slicing his forearms in front of him to toss it forward more. It skidded on its side violently, before it stopped, and crumbled. Yino stood on his hands and knees, coughing up blood on the smooth cobblestone. Aang hovered over him, a stern look in his face, though his eyes showed a pure sensation of utter, lip-curling fear.

"Who _are _you people?!" Aang shouted again, his silver eyes glowing brightly as Sokka and Toph shuffled citizens out of the area quickly behind him. "And don't joke with me, either! I want answers!"

Yino groaned, blinking as if he were tired or bored. His self-indulgence that Aang was nothing was a mere sugar coating to his true desire to not be murdered. Eyes lazy, he finally remarked, "We are a league of people who do what we are told. And that, Avatar, is all you're getting out of me."

Aang blasted into the Avatar State, striking out at the ground next to Yino, causing it to crack and wake as Yino rolled out of the way and charged up at Aang, hands a blazed. Aang immediately flipped backwards, avoiding the blows with great ease, his eyes and tattoos still glowing. Suddenly, he stopped in mid air, forming a large sphere of air that surrounded him; he charged forward, collapsing buildings falling apart behind him, fires and ruble about. Yino was flung forward by Aang, his now limp body at the will of Aang's charge.

**Meanwhile, just near by**

Sokka and Toph ran as fast as they could, shuffling through the ruble and gusts of wind, fire, dust. They panted, retrieving all citizens that were cowering in their falling houses and packing them on their backs and beside them. As they darted along, fires began to surge, Aang and Yino's fight enraging.

"Man, how are we gonna get everyone out?!" Sokka shouted over the rumbles to Toph.

"No time, just keep saving innocents!"

"Perfect, very symbolic!"

"Shut up!"

Sokka scrunched his face and continued to run, fighting back the roaring flames and winds. Suddenly, the ground in front of them split, shattering spikes everywhere. Sokka covered over some citizens as Toph shielded them with an Earth-shield.

"Are they trying to kill us?!" Sokka exclaimed over the roar of the explosions, trying to hold on steady as the building started to shake and collapse. Toph bended a bridge to connect the two crumbling halves, grabbing Sokka and the others and running across from it.

"Not _us_, Sokka!" Toph exclaimed back.

"You don't think Aang's gonna kill him, do you?" Sokka asked jumping into the next building with the citizens. "Looks like we've got everyone…" he muttered.

"I don't know," Toph said. "Never thought he had the guts to. But who knows? That kid's been acting weird lately."

**Back with Yino and Aang**

Miles down from the two, Aang spun viciously, his Avatar State roaring as he bashed Yino into a building, collapsing it. Aang flipped back, still in his State but without the rage of the Air Sphere. He scowled at him.

"Stop fighting," Aang said, "and stop sending assassins. You'll never win!"

Yino shuffled in the pile of wooden ruble, remarking, "That's what you think, Avatar. You're just like everyone else who has some kind of power. You think that no one can beat you, that just because you have these abilities no one can stop you, that you're invincible. But that there's the difference between you and me; I _know _no one can beat me, I _know_ no one can stop me," he pulled himself up from the ruble, staring down at Aang's heated-lit eyes, "I _know _I'm invincible!"

And there he roared a gush of fire from his mouth, sending Aang backwards as he spun, attempting to repel the air from around him. He lost his focus, loosing his charge of the Avatar State and skidded on the cobblestone floor. Yino popped from the rubble, charging a heated blast of fire at Aang, who matched it. The two intense beams of flames slammed against each other, a spiral of fire roaring around the meeting points. The light was blinding, the heat was immense, and the blasts were attempting to cancel each other out.

The blasts rebounded, Aang trying to repel it from him as it lashed back at them both, though his air blast simply caused him to be spun backwards and then spiral to the other side of the ring. He rocketed strait to Sokka and Toph, the former catching the Airbender and falling backwards. The two looked at Aang's bleeding head, which had as well sustained several cuts. There was a singing burn on his upper head, near the gash from his fight with Lee. His cloths were nearly completely burned, his pants now heavily shredded and his arms now having several fire wounds. His thin black hair was now full of soot, and dripping with blood.

"Man, Aang," Sokka shuttered, "you don't look too good…."

"You should've listened to us!" Toph exclaimed at Aang groaning body. "I may not be able to see anything out here, but I sure can tell there's not much to _feel!!_"

"That's why you're evacuating these people," Aang said, picking himself up and looking at the dozens of people. "Is that everyone?"

"Yeah," said Sokka, a look of frustration on his face. "Toph is right, Aang. This is just gonna get you killed. Or both of you."

Aang shook his head. "You don't understa-"

"THEN EXPLAIN IT TOO US, AANG!" Sokka exploded. "Explain your oh-so-precious _righteous causes _to us! We're a team, remember?!"

Aang jumped off of the building, Sokka exclaiming at him, "FINE! RUN TO YOUR _MISSION! _FORGET ABOUT THE ONES YOU LOVE! YOU'RE SELFISH, AANG! Either that or MORONIC!" He turned back to the group, panting and sweating, Toph staring straight faced, the citizens scarred. "Come on! We don't have any time to waste!"

Yino punched at Aang as he kicked back at him. Aang flipped above him, charging his arm at him. Yino caught it, Aang bending a blast with the other to loosen his grip, then flipping above him again. Their struggle seemed to race around them as they blew at each other. When Aang had faced Ozai, he didn't know what he was expecting to fight. Fighting Yino, he did, and this knowledge made him feel even uneasy. He should've been able to beat him easily; what was stopping him?

"This is getting tedious, Avatar!" Yino said, interrupting Aang's thoughts, over the roar of their blasts, which seemed to die down. "I came here to kill you, not play leap frog." Aang looked unsettling at his face, as Yino turned around and charged a blast at the building Sokka, Toph, and the citizens were at. Aang gasped and sprinted at full speed to it, jumping in the air and containing it with an air blast. He whipped into the building again.

Yino appeared in the building mere moments later, picking up Aang's partly unconscious body, bleeding and hurt, by his shirt, snarling. Sokka charged after him with his newly fabricated metal sword, yelling, as Yino turned around to see him.

"Don't touch me, Water filth!" Yino shouted, sending a whip of fire that caught at Sokka, who screamed as he was taken aback and flown out of the building's second story, fire all around him.

"SOKKA!" Toph exclaimed in horror. She scowled viciously as she bended the sand from the scattered and broken vases around her and struck them at Yino, who was shot to the ground, face bleeding.

Aang dropped and shook, snarling at Yino's actions lashed him out of the building into the next one. Aang ignited into the Avatar state and shot over to him at impossible speed and flipped at him, colliding him into the wall. Aang then flipped back, bending sand from crushed vases around him, whipping them at Yino causing his clothes to tear. As Yino shuffled for his balance, Aang lashed at him.

"YOU MONSTER!" He roared, his eyes blazing more ferociously. He shook, his shred clothes blowing in the wind. He erupted, hovering in the air with an Air Sphere and flipping to him viciously. But suddenly, Yino grabbed him by his ankle with perfect timing, slamming him into the wall behind him. He then slammed him to the wall next to him, then onto the floor, cracking it. Aang coughed blood, his eyes red and his whole body shaking and aching. Yino picked him up by his head and slammed him against a wall, still gripping his scalp.

"Finally, you'll be dead, Avatar," snarled Yino. "Finally my master will be happy, _finally_ I won't have to _cower _in his shadow! And finally the Fire Nation can go back to be-_GAH!_" Yino stopped, blood leaking from his mouth and eyes, coughing. He looked down, seeing the long, gashing wooden spike jabbed through his stomach. He dropped to the ground, bleeding and shaking; he was dead. Aang slumped to the ground himself, shaking into unconsciousness, and saw who had killed him: clothes torn, arm bleeding and burned; Sokka.

Sokka panted. "Don't…don't try to kill me again, _Fire filth._"

Aang looked up at Sokka, bleeding from his lip, and smiled. "Sokka. Y-you're alive."

Sokka kneeled down, dropping the stick and clutching his burned arm. "Yep, barely. You're not looking too good yourself."

Toph ran into the hut, shouting, "Sokka?! Is that you?!" She hugged Sokka, who retorted, "Ow, ow, ow" as she pressed down on his burned arm. She let go. "I got the citizens out of here." She felt Yino's arm. "He's dead, right? He doesn't feel alive."

Aang sighed and said, "No; no he isn't."

* * *

A/N: Well, there we go. Finally, the action packed, semi-conclusion to the arc! The next chapter will be the end of the arc, though it's more of an epilogue before we get to the next arc. Hope you guys liked it, and review!


	5. Aftermath

A/N: Okay, here's chapter 5. This is the end of the arc, so after this will be a different storyline. Also, this chapter is not violence-action oriented like usual, but more focused on word tension and dialogue action. So enjoy and review!

**Avatar: Better World**

**The New World Chronicles**

**Chapter 5**

"**Aftermath"**

**Ba Sing Se, Upper Ring, the next day…**

Yino and Aang's battle had clearly caused serious damage. The ring laid ravaged, tiles, stones, glass, and wood was practically engulfing it, nearly all houses missing a roof and walls. It was a mess, to say the least. The Ba Sing Se Reconstruction Committee immediately went on the scene, its skilled Earthbenders bending back the streets. Other members reconstructed the buildings by hand, rebuilding the foundation back.

Team Avatar and the rest of the citizens were relocated to the Middle Ring, where there were several spare buildings to be used for the next few days as the Committee speedily rebuilt the Upper Ring. In one of these huts, Aang, bandaged nearly head-to-toe, sat in the basement, flipping through scrolls that were littered all across the ground; he muttered to himself indecipherably.

Katara walked down the steps into the cluttered basement, littered with dozens of candles, empty water vases, and shelves, along with the dozens of scrolls Aang had his nose poked into. She looked at the back of Aang's head, black fuzz littered on it with his unshaven hair, starting to grow back. She sighed and stepped down further, about to speak. Aang was quicker, however, and much more unsettling.

"You know, Katara, the _Wind Killers _were founded when Ozai was Prince. He made them himself. It's right here in the mass murder reports in the Lower Ring. And Lee Koisho, my-my second assassin, I met him twice when we were in the Fire Nation. He imprisoned Sokka. Toph and I apparently scammed him…"

Katara didn't like the tone of his voice as he continued, turning to her, grey bags under his eyes, showing under the bandages.

"And Yino…Yino was in a trench war the year your father left your tribe. His Fire Nation prison records, scribbled _every year_, show he was abused as a child, forced into the trench war, then enlisted in the military." His tone became sharper as his teeth gritted and his forehead scrunched. "He always got out of prison. Wanna know why? Because _Ozai favored him_."

Aang's voice was louder and more ferocious as he stood up, thrashing the scrolls to the ground and shaking. "We know all of these things, Katara! Why didn't we stop this sooner? Look out there!" His wrapped hand gestured out the window to the viewable construction in the Upper Ring. "We could've _stopped that! I _could've stopped that! All of this….this…" He picked up the scrolls and tore at them angrily. "AH! These stupid bits of information! Meaningless, right? We could've stopped this, Katara! We could've..." He dropped to his knees. "…we could've stopped this madness. We could've stopped it….we could've stopped it all…"

Katara walked over to Aang, wrapping her arms around him. He gritted his teeth, tears forming from his eyes. "We could've stopped it!" Aang exclaimed again and again. "I'm sorry, Katara…" His voice was soft now. "I failed. I'm so sorry." Tears strove down his checks, Katara the same. Aang had finally broken down. After all of the struggles he had faced in a mere half a month, he had finally broken down.

**Upstairs…**

Sokka's arm had been burned - bad. He sat on the flat seat laid out on the floor, his burned arm wrapped heavily in bandage, small cuts scattered on his face. He had a stubborn face on, as Toph sat across him in a wooden seat, staring at him with her blind eyes, a sarcastic look spread over her mouth. Sokka huffed.

"I wanna help," Sokka said bitterly.

"Stick it," Toph said back. "You're injured. That burn's nasty, I felt it, it's disgusting. And stop fidgeting; I can feel it through this chair, which _really _means you need to stop."

Sokka huffed again, his limp arm growing more and more num. "Then at least let me get up. At least play a game of ball."

Toph grabbed a ball of linen from her robe pocket and tossed it towards is direction. "Enjoy."

Sokka stuck his tongue out. He then sat quietly for a few moments, looking at the ground. "You know, when I-when I thought I was, well, dead, I-I swear I could, well, I could've sworn I saw…You know what, forget it. You'd think I'm crazy."

"It's too late for that," Toph remarked. "Just spit it out."

"Well, I could've sworn I saw…this, well, this blinding light. Kind of like, I don't know, like it was screaming. Some kind of angel or something….but different, kind of like it was – it was crying. Crying out to me, too, like I needed to save it. But I couldn't – I was in so much pain. Then it just was gone and my just, just stopped. Then it was beating so fast, I thought it was gonna burst, I thought it was being pumped by something other then myself. Like some – some kind of spirit had just dragged me out of death. Toph, I – I think I was saved by a spirit."

Toph looked at him with an odd face, falling silent. She then broke it like glass. "You're right – you are crazy. I'm sorry, Sokka, but I really doubt a spirit would care at all about one of us. They're snobs – higher entities who think we're bugs. You were just hallucinating." She hopped off the wooden seat. "I'm gonna get some air. You're near-death spiritual encounter theory's blocked all the air from my feet." She walked outside into the small grove behind the house.

Sokka looked unsettled. He looked down at the linen ball. "What are you looking at? Nyah." He swatted it with his head.

**Fire Nation High Security Prison, meanwhile, just outside the Fire Nation capital…**

Zuko had arrived just an hour ago in the Fire Nation via a personal airship he himself entitled _Ursa._ He was infuriated. Hours earlier, he had checked in on Aang in Ba Sing Se only to find the scroll he was reading intensely was littered with the information of Ozai's role in founding the Wind Killer assassins. He knew than that Ozai had hired the assassins, or at least hired their leader who choose the assassins, and knew that he had explaining to do. He stormed into the gate, his robes flying, buzzing by the guard and stomping into Ozai's hall. "I know it was you, father! I know it was you who hired the Wind Killers."

Ozai moved his head limply, his hair askew and ragged. "Why, it's great to see you, too, Zuko."

"Shut up," Zuko remarked. "I know you formed the Wind Killers, and I know you were the man who hired those assassins. But my question to you is why?"

Ozai laughed condescendingly. "Sometimes I wonder if you truly _are _my sun. Ha-ha."

Zuko gritted his teeth and exclaimed, "Answer me!"

Ozai looked at him with a mutual expression. He picked himself up as he spoke aloud, "You're a stubborn fool. Deluded too." He walked to the bars to meet his son face to face. "You know why. I'm malicious; 'Oh, daddy, you're so mean.' You're pathetic! You know all the questions you ask are from your stubbornness to not accept your father's an unnatural monster. You're just like your mother."

Zuko roared and grabbed his father by the hair. Sweat beat down his checks. He shook in rage.

"Ha-ha…" Ozai snickered. "_Do it. _Get it over with – kill me."

Zuko looked at his eyes, feeling engrossed in a spiral of emotions and words. His father laughed more and more.

"Come on, Zuko, you know you can and you know you want to. You're the ruler of an empire, now do your imperial duty and kill me! _Kill me!!"_

**Meanwhile, back in Ba Sing Se**

Night fell on the city of Ba Sing Se. The committee continued to reconstruct the buildings, lanterns practically illuminating the sky above the Upper Ring.

"'Ey, Malu, ya sure you haven't had anything to drink today?!" bellowed Lee, an immature committee construction crewmen, from atop a construction later. Malu had just tripped over a small stack of wood.

"Ah, cram it, Lee," Malu said back, picking himself back up. "It's night, I just can' see all dat well."

"You kidding?" Lee said. "These lights are burning."

"Gettin' ol', huh?"

"Ah, shut it."

In Team Avatar's house down in the lower ring, things were much quieter. Sokka sat in the same spot, his mind racing. The idea of an actual spirit saving him was…well, almost unbelievable. He tried to get off the subject, taking a bite of an apple in a bowl beside him, but as he munched, the sound echoing in the empty room, he kept thinking about it. Then suddenly, a loud hissing noise stung in his ear. It grew louder and louder, like a shriek, then it turned to a bellow. Sokka clutched his head with his spare hand, groaning with agony. The bellowing grew louder and started to form words that hissed over the screams and shrieks:

"_The war is coming!" _It echoed again and again, Sokka gripping his head harder. More words began to pile up above it, _"The Empire will fall," _and they roared against each other inside his head. He began to scream and fell on his back. _"The monarch will die!" _the third bellow shrieked, all the words engrossing over one another and exploding in screams that felt like they were burning Sokka's head to ashes. He bellowed out himself, though he could not stop the screaming. He couldn't silence the voices. His nose was bleeding.

As the screaming overwhelmed him, he desperately slammed his fist into a low vase, shattering it into his hand. It bled deeply and he crawled on the ground until he reached the wall. Hastily, as the screams exclaimed louder the words more intense than ever, he wrote on the wall with his own blood: "THE WAR IS COMING." Screaming, he began to write the other phrases. Images began flashing around him, burning fire, skeletons, sieges, and blood.

Katara ran into the room from the stares, carrying a bowl which she dropped, seeing the sight. "Sokka!" she exclaimed. "What are you doing?!" She ran up to him and grabbed his bloody hand from the wall, though he struggled. Finally, he stopped and fell on his back, screaming and wriggling. Toph heard the screaming vividly and stormed into the house. Katara asked Sokka, "What's wrong?!"

"Gah!!!! Make the screaming stop! Make the screaming stop!!!!!" He boomed, the pain becoming immense.

Katara bended water around her hands and put them around the sides of his head. The images flashed once more, the screaming immense still. Then they slowed, faded, and the noises died down. Finally, Sokka stopped screaming and groaning, his body relaxed, and panted violently. Katara bended back the water and panted herself – that took a huge amount of strength, but she didn't know why, and she felt weaker.

Toph spoke, "What just happened?"

Sokka spoke through pants of breath, "The screaming…it wouldn't stop. It kept telling me…it kept telling me of a war….and it kept showing me these images…"

Aang walked up the steps with haste and entered the room. He stomped to Sokka's side, "Are you okay?"

Sokka gulped and responded, "Yeah, I-I think I am." He wiped the blood from his nose and picked himself up.

Aang looked at the Chinese writing on the wall and was sent chills from the words. Sokka turned to him and asked, "What-what does this mean?"

Aang was silent, looking at the wall, his eyes shining slightly. He then turned away and looked at Sokka. "I…I don't know."

**Back in the Fire Nation prison cells**

"Kill me…" Ozai repeated, looking at his son with angry eyes but a thin, neutral face.

Zuko was shaking with anger. "I…I…."

"Zuko, I tried to kill your friend, I burnt your face, I tortured innocent lives, you've said it yourself, _I'm a monster,_" Ozai said. "Now, give into your emotions, give _into _your hate and anger, give into your heart's desire and burn me right here."

Zuko panted, the hall fell silent, but the tension was immense and the hot summer air was cold as ice. "…Gah!" He shouted, whipping a small lash of fire and slamming it into the wall, leaving a singe burn. "No! My whole life you've deceived me. You let me live my life thinking I only had hate and fear and anger and your blood to give myself honor. I spent three years following those teachings, three years I _wasted! _If I was another man, if I was still listening to your teachings, you'd be dead, _burning _on the ground and not rotting in a cell! But that's not who I am; I'm not you. I am Fire Lord Zuko, ruler of the Fire Nation. I'll never use hate and fear to rule the country, I'll never give into my emotions…. and I'll never listen to you, not if my life depended on it. You tried to kill Aang and I want answers. But if you're not going to give them to me, Father, than I'm going now. Enjoy rotting…" He turned to walk away.

"You Zuko, you really are a stubborn child," Ozai called out as Zuko walked down the hall. "Oh, and by the way, I didn't hire those assassins." Zuko stopped at this. "I hired _the pathetic wimp_ who hired those assassins. Worst mistake ever. I swear, you can never get good help these days."

"How'd you do it?" Zuko asked.

"Do what exactly?"

"Set this up at all."

"Oh, it was easy. You really need to make this prison more inaccessible. He could've broken me out in an instant and I'd have this country in my hands again with that army." He laughed rudely and abruptly.

Zuko grunted and slammed the door, leaving the hallway.

"You always did never finish things, Zuko! Hahahaha!!"

Zuko walked down the prison entrance, his mind ablaze with anger and questions. Ozai was right - he never could finish anything.


End file.
